Possible to save 15% in 15 minutes or less on your car insurance?

Unless you've been living under a rock the last few years I'm sure you've heard the little gecko mention his slogan hundreds of
times. Did you ever wonder if this could possibly be true? All types of questions
probably run through your head. How could you really save 15% off your car insurance? Are you really paying that much more than you
should? Well, here's the real answer... YES and NO. To understand why there are two
answers, one must understand the basics of insurance rating/pricing first.

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Every person who owns a car is subject to carrying auto insurance and every person's scenario is just a bit different causing different
rates for every person with every different insurance company. It's difficult to compare your policy with
someone else's because of all the factors that go into rating individual policies. Insurance companies generate
rates for liability insurance and use a certain set of factors and generate
rates for the physical damage insurance for vehicles using a different set of factors. That being said below is a very
quick over view on rating.

Liability rates for car insurance are normally based on the
following: the age of the driver, martial status, driving record/experience,
how far you drive, location of the garaging address and credit history. There are others and credits available but in
a nutshell these work. Even though the
above factors help determine the physical damage rates on the vehicle, the physical
damage coverage is weighted more on the vehicle specifics than the above. Some vehicle factors that effect the physical
damage rating include: the year, make, model of the vehicle, features of the
vehicle like air bags, anti lock brakes, alarm systems, daytime running lights
and cost of the vehicle.

Here are two rating examples of an individual quoting
insurance and realizing savings or not.

First example;
Let's say an insured is 20 years old, has been licensed
for 2 years and is driving a 2003 Chevrolet Impala is paying roughly $1,800 a
year for liability only coverage. The
insured decides to try and save 15% in 15 minutes, which would be a savings of
$225. When the insured obtains quotes,
some of the rating information the old policy was based on actually has
changed. He/she has actually now has
been licensed for 3 years vs. 2 and is now 21 years old vs. 20. The insured probably doesn't even realize the
old policy was based on these old factors. Based on these new factors, there are big discounts the insured is
eligible for and he/she saves more than 15%. However he/she is comparing apples and oranges. Because the baseline information has changed
and the premium is higher to begin with, it's easier to achieve this high
percentage savings. In this scenario the
answer is probably a YES you can save 15% or more.

Second example;
Let's take for example a 40-year-old married
couple, with two cars a 2009 Chevy Impala and a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado, no
kids of driving age. The insured is
currently insured with a preferred auto company paying a premium of $945 a year
with full coverage. This is a very
competitive price with adequate coverage limits. When the insured checks
pricing with other companies, no rating information has changed and they find
it's hard to bead their current price. It's not likely they will be able to save anything and definitely not
15% or $146 without changes to their policy. In this scenario, the answer is probably; NO you can't save 15% or
more. Maybe there will be a savings, but
most likely not 15%. Now don't sacrifice
coverage to save money because now you're back into comparing apples and
oranges.

Every individual's situation is completely different and the
facts will determine the savings. One
thing to remember when getting quotes... try to quote apples to apples coverage as
well as keeping the rating information the same for each quote. It doesn't do you any good to quote a new
policy with different information or to lower coverage to try and save
money. The policy will no doubt be a cheaper price but also a "cheaper" policy.